remembers the invention of the wheel

Facts You Might Not Know About Carleton Place for our 150th Birthday – Part 4

The Millstone has published its first instalment of 365 FACTS ABOUT MISSISSIPPI MILLS. It will be a series of posts for Canada’s 150th birthday this year — “365 Facts About Mississippi Mills.” So I thought I would begin to a few about Carleton Place.

The facts below are from the flyer passed out on January 1: Carleton Place-A Valley Town at Confederation 1867 by the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum. I have personally added some extra tidbits under the facts.

Fact- Industries included a grist mill, carding mill, shingle mill, a tannery and David Findlays’ foundry. James Gillies was constructing his new sawmill, soon to employ 100 men, and produce 10,000 feet of lumber per day.

Did you know about our earlier businesses like William Kelly who was the proprietor of the British Hotel, on Bridge st. corner of High Street?The travelling public will find this a good house to stop at, as it is centrally situated, and every attention is paid to the comfort of its guests. Read more here: Business Directory of Carleton Place 1866 and 1867- Any name you recognize?

So many stories about the Findlay Foundry– where do you begin? Some kids even learned to swear walking by the Findlay plant each day– and when the daily whistles coming from the plant stopped– the town mourned for a business that helped make our town. Click here for many links to stories about the Findlay Foundry-Looking for Names- Findlay Foundry

About lindaseccaspina

Linda Knight Seccaspina was born in Cowansville, Quebec about the same time as the wheel was invented and the first time she realized she could tell a tale was when she got caught passing her smutty stories around in Grade 7 at CHS by Mrs. Blinn.
When Derek "Wheels" Wheeler from Degrassi Jr. High died in 2010, Linda wrote her own obituary. Some people said she should think about a career in writing obituaries.
Before she laid her fingers to a keyboard, Linda owned the eclectic store Flash Cadilac and Savannah Devilles in Ottawa from 1976-1996. After writing for years about things that she cared about or pissed her off she finally found her calling. Is it sex drugs and rock n' roll you might ask? No, it is history. Seeing that her very first boyfriend in Grade 5 (who she won a Twist contest with in the 60s) is the head of the Brome Misissiquoi Historical Society and also specializes in local history back in Quebec, she finds that quite funny.
She writes every single day and is also a columnist for Hometown News and Screamin's Mamas. She is a volunteer for the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum, an admin for the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page, and a local guest speaker.
She has been now labelled an historian by the locals which in her mind is wrong. You see she will never be like the iconic local Lanark County historian Howard Morton Brown, nor like famed local writer Mary Cook. She proudly calls herself The National Enquirer Historical writer of Lanark County, and that she can live with.
Linda has been called the most stubborn woman in Lanark County, and has requested her ashes to be distributed in any Casino parking lot as close to any Wheel of Fortune machine as you can get. But since she wrote her obituary, most people assume she's already dead.
Linda has published six books, "Menopausal Woman From the Corn," "Cowansville High Misremembered," "Naked Yoga, Twinkies and Celebrities," "Cancer Calls Collect," "The Tilted Kilt-Vintage Whispers of Carleton Place," and "Flashbacks of Little Miss Flash Cadilac." All are available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle.
Linda's books are for sale on Amazon or at Wisteria · 62 Bridge Street · Carleton Place, Ottawa, Canada, and at the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum · 267 Edmund Street · Carleton Place, Ottawa, Canada--Appleton Museum-Mississippi Textile Mill and Mill Street Books and Heritage House Museum and The Artists Loft in Smith Falls.